Andorian Empire
The Andorian Empire, also known as the Andorian Star Clan and Epsilon Indii Star Empire, was a faction in the science fiction series Star Trek. Centered on the moon of Andor, the Andorian Empire was one of the five founding Member States of the United Federation of Planets, having signed the Articles of the Federation on 12 August 2161. History Early history Throughout the 20th, 21st, and 22nd centuries, the Andorian Empire was constantly at odds with the neighboring world of Vulcan. Numerous wars and cold wars occurred between the hostile powers, both of which committed numerous acts of aggression against the other. The Andorian Empire made first contact with United Earth in 2151, when the Human ship, Enterprise (NX-01), became embroiled in an attempt on the part of the Imperial Guard to expose a suspected Vulcan spy station on the ancient monastery of P'Jem. The Imperial Guard invaded P'Jem and took the monks hostage along with the visiting Enterprise crew. The Humans eventually uncovered the spy station in the course of freeing themselves from the Andorians, and the Imperial Guard later destroyed the monastery and station. One particular sore spot between Andor and Vulcan was a terraformed planetoid called Weytahn by the Andorians and Paan Mokar by the Vulcans. The planetoid was the subject of numerous firefights before a peace treaty was negotiated in 2153 under United Earth moderation. Another sore spot was Coridan III, where both the Andorian and Vulcan governments supported opposing factions in a civil war. The Andorian Empire opened full diplomatic relations with United Earth soon after contact, establishing the Andorian Embassy on Earth. A chan, Thoris, became the Andorian Ambassador to United Earth. Operations between the United Earth Starfleet and the Imperial Guard -- and in particular between Imperial Guard Commander Thy'lek Shran, commanding officer of the Kumari, and United Earth Starfleet Captain Jonathan Archer, commanding officer of Enterprise NX-01 -- gradually became quite close. In 2153, Commander Shran provided intelligence on the Xindi superweapon to Archer after an unsuccessful attempt to acquire the weapons technology for the Empire, and in 2154, the Kumari travelled to Earth and helped defeat the superweapon and the flagship of the mad Xindi-Reptilian Commander Dolim on 14 February, providing Archer with crucial assistance in saving Earth from the Xindi. In 2154, V'Las, then the Administrator of the Vulcan High Command, the Vulcan head of government, attempted to launch an invasion of the Andorian Empire on the basis of falsified intelligence indicating that the Andorians had acquired weapons based upon Xindi technology. The plot was exposed by Soval, former Vulcan Ambassador to United Earth, to acting Enterprise NX-01 commanding officer Charles Tucker III, who contacted Commander Shran. On Shran's word, the Imperial Guard assembled a fleet to meet the invading Vulcan forces. Commander Tucker attempted once again to mediate between the two, but a battle erupted between the Vulcan and Andorian fleets. Fortunately, a coup d'etat on Vulcan forced V'Las out of power and exposed his lies, leading to the battle's end. Later that year, the Andorian Empire and Tellar also nearly went to war, as numerous ships from either world were being destroyed by foes apparently from the other side. Once again, United Earth volunteered to mediate the dispute, this time hosting negotiations on the planetoid of Babel One; in the course of escorting the Tellarite delegation, however, Enterprise NX-01 discovered evidence that the Andorian Empire and Tellar were being manipulated into going to war by the Romulan Star Empire. Captain Archer's skill at interspecies negotiations led to the establishment of an unprecedented alliance of Andorian, Vulcan, Terran, and Tellarite ships in the search for the disguised Romulan attackers. The unwilling involvement of an Aenar citizen in the perpetuation of the fraud was also uncovered. Forming the Federation The Andorian Empire participated in talks in San Francisco on Earth the next year to discuss the creation of a new interstellar alliance. Building upon the work begun by Archer with the temporary alliance to discover the Romulans, United Earth Foreign Minister Nathan Samuels sought to create a permanent alliance for mutual defense and trade to be known as the Coalition of Planets. Ambassador Thoris attended, but when the xenophobic terrorist organization Terra Prime incited numerous anti-alien demonstrations throughout Earth and attempted to hijack the Verteron Array on Mars to blackmail non-Humans into leaving the Sol system, he expressed suspicion whether the Coalition of Planets could ever function with Humans participating. Nonetheless, the Andorian Empire became a member of the Coalition of Planets, and on 12 August 2161, its representatives joined those of United Earth, Tellar, Vulcan, and Alpha Centauri in the Candlestick Auditorium in San Francisco to sign the Articles of the Federation, establishing the existence of the United Federation of Planets. One of the Andorian Empire's earliest Federation Councillors was a shen named Avaranthi sh'Rothress. Sh'Rothress achieved fame with her numerous debates with Federation President Haroun al-Rashid of United Earth over the qualifications of future worlds for Membership, and in 2177 became the fourth Federation President and the first from Andor. Politics The Andorian Empire is a constitutional monarchy that was established in the 19th century with the unification of the planet from warring clans by Thalisar the Last, who deliberately died childless and created the parliamentary democracy that has governed Andor ever since her death. The position of head of state is thus deliberately left empty, and is represented by the Empty Throne of the Andorian Empire, found in the Parliament Andoria Complex. The head of government is the Presider, whose seat is determined by the political party that has a majority in the legislature, the Parliament Andoria. The majority party also determines Andor's Federation Councillor. In the 22nd century, the Andorian head of government was known as the Chancellor. The Andorian Empire's traditional military is the Imperial Guard of the Andorian Empire. The Andorian Empire maintained diplomatic relations with the Aenar on Andor into the mid-2150s. Society and culture Andorians were a militaristic race, exemplified in small part by weaponry without stun settings. They considered it an honour to serve in their Imperial Guard, and military rank greatly influenced social reputation. Deploring dishonesty – and never fighting without reason – Andorians were nonetheless capable of duplicity. The Andorians were suspicious and volatile. They considered themselves deeply emotional, passionate, even violent; not known for their charity or sympathy, they placed a high value on family. A crucial part of Andorian tradition was the Ushaan, a code of honour demanding a duel to the death, with combatants pitted against one another using an ushaan-tor ice miner's tool. A vast body of regulations – up to twelve thousand amendments – bound this code. Such a fight could be called off if one combatant disabled the other enough to prevent its continuance. Though Ushaan could be called by someone to avenge a personal loss, there existed a right of substitution wherein each combatant could offer up a replacement, and married combatants could postpone duels indefinitely if they had no children to continue their clans. Members of the Andorian Imperial Guard who died far from home could count on their companions to transport a part of them, for example some of their blood, back to the Andorian ices. As a special honour, the blood of a dead person could be taken to the Wall of Heroes on Andoria. Females enjoyed an equal position in Andorian society, and as soldiers, were as capable as males. Also, they could initiate an intimate relationship by assaulting a male. Andorian weddings required groups of four people, except under certain circumstances. Category:Star Trek Category:Governments Category:Military Category:Empires Category:United Federation of Planets